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Saint
Petersburg - South
Korea'sSon
Heung-min is bearing the weight of expectation at the Soccer World Cup just
as heavily as Mohamed Salah, Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane.

Even Lionel Messi, whose bid to
add a World Cup to his career collection has become something of a communal
objective for football, enjoys the support of a star-studded Argentinian side,
from Angel Di Maria to Javier Mascherano to Sergio Aguero.

For Son and South Korea, the
pressure is shared in the kind of unequal measure that perhaps only Salah would
know with Egypt before his own tournament was hampered by injury.

South Korea are teetering on the
brink too, after a 1-0 defeat by Sweden left them needing at least a draw, and
probably a win, against Mexico on Saturday to keep any hopes of progressing
from Group F alive.

Son blamed himself for the
opening loss. "I'm still disappointed about my performance," he said.
"I feel very, very sorry for my team-mates because if we don't score, it's
my fault, because I need to take the responsibility."

Responsibility is one take,
pressure another. Son is a star in his home country, to the extent he has to
wear a disguise when he leaves the house and Korean journalists are employed in
London, where they wait to speak to the forward after every Tottenham fixture
in the Premier League.

But for all the attention he
receives, the 25-year-old, who moved to Germany when he was 16 and made his
name at Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen, is humble, driven and immensely popular
with his team-mates.

He still lives in Barnet with his
parents. His father, Son Woong-jung, is a former striker himself, whose
professional career was cut short by injury.

Tottenham's training ground,
based nearby in Enfield, has housed Korean chefs, invited in by Son in the hope
of ingratiating his team-mates to bulgogi (barbecued beef), japchae (stir-fried
noodles) and Samgyetang (a type of chicken soup).

NOT THE
STAR AT SPURS

But for Spurs, Son plays behind
Kane, and alongside Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen. He is a key player, but
not the star.

"It is true that maybe he
doesn't get the headlines of Harry Kane and other players, but it is good to
recognise him," Tottenham coach Mauricio Pochettino said.

"It's like a player next to
[Lionel] Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo that also deserves a lot of credit.

"When you are next to Harry
Kane, who scores and scores, it is normal that the focus is more on Harry Kane
or on Messi or Ronaldo than on Son.

"But all the team love him.
Not only because of his performances but because of how he is as a man. He is
so humble and such a normal guy, and that makes him bigger."

Son certainly does not feel
disappointments any less. In fact, those that know him well say he takes
defeats harder than anyone.

He sat on the pitch and bawled
his eyes out when South Korea lost to Honduras in the quarter-finals of the
2016 Olympics in Brazil, a result that could still have repercussions for Son's
future.

As is the law in South Korea, he
owes 21 months of military service and is due to begin his stint before he
turns 28.

There is precedent for successful
footballers being granted exemption, as was the case in 2002, when the national
team reached the World Cup semi-finals, and 2014, when they won the Asian
Games.

Son missed out four years ago as
Bayer Leverkusen refused to release him and there may be a similar dilemma for
Tottenham to confront when the same tournament runs again in Indonesia in
August.

For now, though, South Korea need
Son to deliver in Rostov against Mexico, the team that have inflicted the shock
of the World Cup so far by beating Germany.

The pressure is on Son to step
up.

"When he plays for the
national team, the opposition focuses on defending against Son Heung-min,"
South Korea's coach Shin Tae-yong said last month.

"I think he's doing well but
to become a big player, he has to overcome that barrier."